Generates a multi-page PDF document from your Inkscape document.
Note: Inkscape 1.2 introduces multiple-page support; if you use Inkscape 1.2+ then there's no need for this ink2pdf utility.
Inkscape is a drawing tool, right?
Yes, but it's much, much more. It's one of my main CAD design tools; I use it for architecture, drafting, plansets, landscape design, and so on. But it's always been missing one thing... multi-page support.
What to do? The trick many Inkscape users have figured out is to
use layers as pages. It's not the most elegant workaround but
it is easy to do. Except when it comes time to produce
a PDF document from all those layers -- hence this tool: ink2pdf
By default, each layer in your Inkscape document becomes a page in the PDF output. You can also specify on the command line that one of the layers is a background for all the other pages.
For more detailed control over the layer-to-page mappings, use page prefixes with the --prefixes (-x) option.
Inkscape sublayers are left as-is. If the parent layer is mapped to a page, then the sublayers, if any, are also mapped if they are set visible in the Inkscape file.
For more control over how pages are mapped from layers, use page prefixes. Page prefixes are processed only in --prefixes (-x) mode.
This works by prefixing each layer's name with a sequence number, using a special format. For example, consider these layer names:
p1) Introduction
p2) The Problem
p3) The Solution
p4) Conclusion
The "p1)" is part of the layer name. I call it the page prefix.
This tells the ink2pdf tool how to assign layers to the generated output PDF pages.
You, as the author of the Inkscape document, put that prefix into the layer's name.
The numbers do not have to be in order, and there can be gaps in the sequence. The following layer names produce the same PDF output as the first example above:
p00) Introduction
p50) The Solution
p21) The Problem
p999) Conclusion
The sequence numbers in the layer names indicate the output order, not the resultant PDF page number. In the above example, p00 becomes output page number 1, p21 becomes page 2, p50 becomes page 3, and p999 becomes page 4.
Layers without a page prefix are ignored.
Depending upon how the prefix is specified, the layer is a content layer or a background layer.
The layers in your Inkscape document are usually content layers. Content layers begin with the letter 'p' or 'c' (case insensitive). The number(s) must be specified explicitely; ranges or left/right indications cannot be used. These are valid prefixes for content layers:
p1) Normal way to indicate page 1
p003) Another way to indicate page 3
p4,8) This layer is assigned to two pages
p10.5) Decimal values allowed; easy way to insert a forgotten page
Background layers begin with the letter 'p' or 'b'. They can have a single number like a content page, or a list of numbers, or they can indicate a range (2-5), or they can be a special character as follows:
b1) Background for page 1 - note the "b"
b4,8) Background layer for pages 4 and 8 - lists are allowed - note the "b"
p2-10) Background for pages 2 thru 10 inclusive. The use of a range forces this to be a background layer.
p2-) Background for page 2 and up.
p-50) Background for all pages up to and including 50
p*) Background layer for all pages
pL) Background layer for left-side (even) output pages - does not include page 1 (intentional)
pR) Background layer for right-side (odd) output pages
p1,L,9-13) Complicated example!
A background layer is used with a content layer; if there's no matching content layer then the background layer is ignored.
Layers may be tagged with short identifiers, called conditional tags (ctags).
When running ink2pdf the ctags may be specified with the --tags (-t) option.
Ctags are used to enable and disable layers on output. If a layer has a ctag,
but the tag is not specified in the --tags option, then that layer is ignored.
Consider for example an Inkscape drawing that's a cartoon or graphic novel, and you want the related text to be in either English or German. You can tag english layers with "en" and german layers with "de":
p5) Superman Leaps Tall Bulding
p5(en) Bubble Text
p5(de) Bubble Text
CTags are short simple identifiers. They must consist of only letters, digits, and the dash. Multiple ctags are allowed in the prefix:
p102(en,fr) Superman meets Lois
Conditional tags are processed only in --prefixes (-x) mode.
Use the --list-layers (-l) option to list all the layer names in the inkscape document:
ink2pdf -l test/inkfiles/layer-test-001.svg
BG
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 3
Use the --show-mappings (-m) option to show the layer-to-page mappings
that ink2pdf would use when it creates the PDF pages. The output
is shown in a grid format with the output page numbers listed (vertically)
across the top, and the layer names on the left side of the table.
An asterix (*) in the grid indicates that the layer will be used
on that page.
$ ink2pdf -m test/inkfiles/prefix-test-010.svg
.........11111
Layer Name Page # --> 12345678901234
==================================== +==============+
p*) My Background |*.............|
pR) Right-side frame |.*............|
pL) Left-side frame |..*...........|
p1) Cover Page |...*..........|
p003) Page 3 |....*.........|
p2(fr) Introduction |.....*........|
p2(en) Introduction |......*.......|
b3) BG just for page 3 |.......*......|
c4) Ordinary Stuff |........*.....|
c4.7(ex,en) Experimental Stuff |.........*....|
p5.05) More stuff |..........*...|
p4-6) BG for 4,5,6 |...........*..|
c7) End Page |............*.|
c6) Just content |.............*|
==================================== +==============+
Note the difference when layer prefixes (-x) are used:
$ ink2pdf test/inkfiles/prefix-test-010.svg -m -x
Layer Name Page # --> 12345678
==================================== +========+
p*) My Background |********|
pR) Right-side frame |.*.*.*.*|
pL) Left-side frame |..*.*.*.|
p1) Cover Page |*.......|
p003) Page 3 |..*.....|
p2(fr) Introduction |.*......|
p2(en) Introduction |.*......|
b3) BG just for page 3 |........|
c4) Ordinary Stuff |...*....|
c4.7(ex,en) Experimental Stuff |....*...|
p5.05) More stuff |.....*..|
p4-6) BG for 4,5,6 |...****.|
c7) End Page |.......*|
c6) Just content |......*.|
==================================== +========+
Note: Inserted PDF's (via the --insert -i option) are not shown in the mapping grid.
- pdfunite
- Perl module XML::LibXML
- Perl module XML::LibXML::XPathContext
Put the ink2pdf script somwehere in your executable path; for example, copy it to /usr/local/bin/ .
Then mke it executable: chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ink2pdf . That's it!
ink2pdf [options] inkscape-file
Options:
-b --background L Use layer L as a backround layer (can't use with -x).
-h --help Usage summary.
-i --insert N:file Insert existing PDF file into document at page N.
May use multiple times. N starts at 1.
1 will insert the PDF file be at the beginning.
Use "end" to insert at the end of the document.
Ignored when using -k.
-k --keep Don't unite the pages into one PDF; keep each page
as it's own numbered .pdf file.
-l --list-layers Show layer names and exit.
-m --show-mapping Show layer-to-page mapping and exit.
-o --output PDFFILE Specify the output PDF file name; default is to
replace the ".svg" suffix of the input file name
with ".pdf"; if no ".svg" suffix then ".pdf" is
appended.
-q --quiet No output except warnings and errors.
-t --tags TAGS Conditional tags in effect; delimit tags with commas.
Tags only processed when using prefixes; thus
you must use -x too when using -t.
-x --prefixes Parse prefixes in layer names.
-v --verbose Verbose mode. Overrides -q.
Thanx to https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/54615/inkscape-scripting-how-to-show-hide-a-layer-and-export#54990 for the parsing hint.